the ice is thicker than you think
by antomec
Summary: obligatory "i don't know how to skate, but you seem like you do and i thought, hey, maybe you could teach me how to skate?" AU that this fandom needs. [jelray, modern au, oneshot]


**_hello im bacc with another rarepair as usual jhdgfjdhd. you can find this on ao3 and tumblr under antomec so please give it some love. and for the love of god, the all-lowercase is a writing style, so please refrain from calling me a lazy bitch for not capitalising. instead tell me what your favourite part of the story is!_**

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okay, so _maybe_ the stranger is cute.

the stranger's on his ass on the ice and gray can't help but laugh at him. he's far away enough that there's no chance of him being heard, but for one terrifying moment, the stranger turns his head to look directly at him.

gray doesn't breathe. it's a long moment, but the stranger finally turns away and looks at the girl next him. she's a tiny thing, couldn't be more than ten years old, but she seems to have undertaken the duty of teaching the stranger how to skate.

so far, it's a mess, and gray's been secretly enjoying it from his post at the counter. a lady with two young boys arrive, and gray takes a few minutes to help them out. they leave soon enough, and gray resumes people watching. there's only a couple of people on the ice, but the particular person gray's been looking at has suddenly disappeared. he frowns in disappointment.

"looking for me?" a voice says, and gray flies out of his chair.

"oh no, are you okay?" the voice laughs, and suddenly there's a pair of hands on gray's arms and pulling him up from the ground. finally, he gets a chance to look at who's helping him – it's the cute stranger.

"do you normally frighten people like this?" gray retorts, taking his seat back at the counter. he takes a moment to assess the stranger, and he's surprised to see a very large tattoo above and below his eye. that must have hurt quite a bit.

"only the ones that have been staring at me for a good while," the stranger says, and gray's heart drops. so he _had_ noticed him.

"i'm jellal," he continues, sticking out a hand, and gray weakly grabs it, still too shocked that he was noticed.

and suddenly jellal's face is very close to gray's, and gray freezes. jellal raises an eyebrow, and says, "this is the moment where you tell me your name." he cracks a smile afterwards, and gray slowly mirrors him.

"gray," he introduces himself, and out of simple plain curiosity, he asks "who was that little girl with you?"

jellal's eyes widen. "that's my sister, wendy. i really hope you weren't staring at her."

gray starts spluttering. "n-no! i was staring at you, not your sister! oh god no."

jellal cracks a smile and hops on to the counter. "hah. got you to admit you were staring at me."

gray just stares at him. this was absolutely not how he expected his day to go when he woke up. all he wanted was to stare at cute boys and go home, he didn't want to be put on the spot like this. he had a bad habit of freezing around cute boys, and he just knew he wasn't going to change with jellal.

"hello? earth to gray?" jellal asks cutely, waving his hand in front of his face. gray starts, and jellal pulls back from him. "i was wondering," jellal begins – and wow, jellal really is cute, and the way he uses his hands to speak is even cuter – "if you knew how to skate? because i wouldn't mind lessons from a cute boy like you."

gray blinks. once. twice. once more for good luck. and then before his brain can stop him, he blurts out, "yes. i know how to skate. and i'd love to teach you."

"then it's a date!" jellal says, clapping his hands and hopping off the counter. "then come on, let's get going!"

"wait, wait, i can't just leave that quickly, i've got a counter to run," gray says.

jellal pouts, and he adjusts his scarf. "then when does your shift end?"

"in fifteen minutes," gray says quickly. "until then, we could – i don't know – keep each other company?"

jellal goes quiet for a moment, and gray internally panics for a second. this is it, he ruined it, he ruined another date, he–

"i'd like that," jellal interrupts. "but before that, i need to to find my sister and tell her that i don't need her help anymore," he adds. "i'll be back in a minute."

jellal waves, and waddles away, but he stops after a few steps, comes back and kisses gray on the cheek. "you better teach me how to skate," he says, patting gray's cheek. and then jellal leaves for good.

this is _definitely_ not what he expected this morning.


End file.
